The statistics on Heart Disease in our country are disgusting, yet I still don’t feel like it receives as much attention as other diseases, like breast or prostate cancer for example. It kills more people each year than all forms of cancer combined, it kills more women than it does men, and the worst part is IT IS PREVENTABLE AND LARGELY REVERSIBLE!

Heart disease (which includes Heart Disease, Stroke and other Cardiovascular Diseases) is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing nearly 787,000 people alone in 2011.

In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 34 seconds. Every 60 seconds, someone in the United States dies from a heart disease-related event.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined.

While 1 in 31 American women dies from breast cancer each year, 1 in 3 dies of heart disease.

Heart disease causes 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year, killing approximately one woman every minute.

Only 1 in 5 American women believe that heart disease is her greatest health threat.

An estimated 43 million women in the U.S. are affected by heart disease.

Ninety percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease.

Since 1984, more women than men have died each year from heart disease.

These are STAGGERING STATISTICS, especially for women!

The downstream effects of heart disease are often seen in middle ages (heart attacks, strokes), but autopsy studies have proven that heart disease begins in childhood. Autopsies of American children have shown up to 50% having atherosclerosis, or plaquing in their arteries, by 10-14 years old! So true heart disease prevention HAS TO START IN KIDS!!!

What’s worse is that the most common methods of treatment have major side effects and are often ineffective at best.

Aspirin - An aspirin a day keeps the heart attacks away right? WRONG. A recent study out of Japan studying over 14,000 people ages 60-85 “…found no major difference in heart-related deaths or non-fatal heart attacks and strokes between people who took aspirin and those who didn’t.” Not to mention there is evidence to support that long-term aspirin use increases internal bleeding and could lead to increased stroke risk. Just because it’s what we’ve always been told to do doesn’t mean it’s true! Who told us - Bayer??

Statins - In the U.S. some 40 million people take cholesterol-lowering medications called Statins - like Lipitor, Zocor, or the generic name Simvastatin. This is the highest selling category of drugs at over $20 Billion, and Lipitor is the highest-selling drug of all time. So do they work?

They do lower cholesterol on a blood test. But they DO NOT DECREASE THE RISK OF MORTALITY/MORBIDITY!! Many review studies have been published showing their lack of efficacy in preventing heart attacks and most importantly, preventing death. One review found that "current clinical evidence does not demonstrate that titrating lipid therapy (trying to lower cholesterol with statins) to achieve proposed low LDL cholesterol levels is beneficial or safe." (emphasis mine) Following up on this, in a major independent review of studies funded by the Ministry of Health of British Columbia, Canada on statins and primary prevention, researchers reported that "statins have not been shown to provide an overall health benefit in primary prevention trials."

So the research does not really support that statins work very well. So what. Can I take it “just in case”? The side effects are even worse than the fact that they don’t prevent death - they can cause it! Statins have been scientifically linked to over 300 side effects, including:

Cognitive Loss

Muscle Loss (including the heart!)

CoQ10 depletion

Diabetes

Cancer

Erectile Dysfunction

So many people take statins “just because the doctor told me I had to.” The doctor isn’t your mother. I can’t legally tell you what to take and what not to take, but I would strongly encourage you to do your homework on statin drugs and be well aware of the risks and the rewards.

Blood Pressure Medications - These typically include things like ACE inhibitors and diuretics. ACE inhibitors block the action of an enzyme that breaks down something called bradykinin, which relaxes arteries. So taking an ACE inhibitor means more bradykinin in the bloodstream, more relaxed arteries and lower blood pressure. This can obviously create side effect though, which include:

Headaches, dizziness, fatigue and nausea;

A relentless, dry cough that just won’t shift;

Angioedema, a swelling of the face, tongue and throat that can occur with alarming speed and can cause suffocation by blocking the airway;

Impaired kidney function, particularly if taken together with diuretics and NSAID-type painkillers.

NSAIDs (like Aspirin, Ibuprofen, and Aleve) have been shown to cause high blood pressure and “cardiovascular events” or heart attacks and strokes! Merck’s NSAID Vioxx, one of the most popular drugs ever which was pulled off the market in 2004 due to it’s direct link to heart attacks and strokes, was estimated to have caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks. I hate this one because my mom was on Vioxx. Heart disease-drug-induced kidney failure is very common among patients who are combining an ACE inhibitor, a diuretic, and NSAID drugs. The medical literature calls it a “triple whammy” of devastation.

The two scariest parts of Heart Disease are:

It’s happening to EVERYBODY - your parents, your siblings, your KIDS. I have two sisters and a mother - 1 of them will die from heart disease, statistically speaking. I have two daughters and a wife. Prevention starts now. You have to be actively preventing it in the whole family, non-negotiably.

Very rarely is somebody on only 1 medication for heart disease. More commonly it’s a pharmaceutical cocktail which may include a statin, an ACE inhibitor, a diuretic, an NSAID, an aspirin...and due to the combination of chemicals and side effects, it won’t be long until more drugs are added into the mix. Being on a single blood pressure medication is something that would concern me MASSIVELY because I know what happens next.

The two best parts about heart disease are:

It’s preventable. Many many things have proven to prevent heart disease, with exercising and following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle at the top of the list.

It’s reversible. Studies have shown that arterial stiffness can be improved, that arterial plaquing can be improved, that blood pressure can go down, cholesterol can balance out, triglycerides can go down. The body is the most amazing healing machine when you give it what it needs and remove any interference!

That’s what we teach. Schedule a heart health consultation with us in the office. Go back through our archives and listen to podcasts, read articles, and begin implementing the Real Health Lifestyle that will keep you and your family healthy and heart- (and other) disease-free. Then go out and tell someone you love and care about and don’t let them become a statistic.

University of British Columbia "Do statins have a role in primary prevention? A review by the Therapeutics Initiative of the Department of Pharma cology & Therapeutics of the University of British Columbia." Therapeutics Letter (48). 2003.

Over 65 million Americans suffer from High Blood Pressure - a very big and real problem - but like most real problems, it has real causes and real, natural solutions.

Most people are addressing the problem with medication, for example: Anything ending in -pril like Lisinopril, anything ending in -olol like Atenolol, diuretics like HCTZ, or blood thinners like Aspirin. Most typically prescribed hypertension drugs are: ACE Inhibitors, Diuretics, Beta Blockers, and Calcium Channel Blockers. These drugs all have major side effects, and they are often used in combination with other medications - even though certain combinations have proven to cause kidney failure! (ACE Inhibitor, Diuretic, and NSAIDs - “The Triple Whammy of Kidney Failure”)1

Fortunately, there are plenty of safe and effective ways to bring down your blood pressure and reduce your reliance on ACE inhibitors and other dangerous drugs. Among the scientific literature, there are hundreds and hundreds of natural substances and practices that have been proven to aid hypertension, like meditation and yoga. Some of the research-proven nutraceuticals that aren’t mentioned below include: flaxseed, cocoa products, grape seed extract, and L-arginine.

Vitamin D – a new study from the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology has shown that low levels of this essential hormone are a direct cause of elevated blood pressure. Most mainstream literature suggests supplementing with 2000 IU, I recommend taking at least 5,000 IU daily. But, you never know for sure until you get it measured! 50-70 ng/mmol is where I like to be and like my patients to be.

Fish Oil – the blood pressure lowering effect of fish oil has recently been confirmed in a systematic review of 17 clinical trials (although the changes were small).8 The omega 3’s EPA and DHA from fish oil decrease inflammation and have been shown to reduce stiffness of your arteries.9 I typically recommend between 1000-2500mg/day, but I also strongly recommend that you get your Omega 6: Omega 3 levels and ratios tested!

CoQ10 – taking 100 to 200 mg a day can reduce blood pressure by up to 17 mmHg systolic and 10 mmHg diastolic, and in a study of hypertensive patients taking 200+mg/day, 51% were able to get off at least 1-3 antihypertensive medications 4 months after beginning taking CoQ10.4 Make sure you take the most bioavailable form of CoQ10, known as Ubiquinol. When doing Customized Supplementation Plans using blood and urine lab testing, this is the single most common deficiency and most needed supplement in our patient base, and many experience great results after beginning taking CoQ10. THIS IS A MUST FOR PEOPLE ON STATINS FOR CHOLESTEROL!

Garlic – has been found to reduce blood pressure in several studies, including one that showed time-released garlic tablets dropped total blood pressure by more than 10mmHg.5 I think it’s better to include it in your diet, the main ingredient allicin is only potent right after you have smashed it, so freshly smashed garlic is more potent than capsules or pills, although many people choose the capsules for their breath. But it’s good for you!

Exercise -- Exercise has been shown to improve hypertension for many, many years and is the single most researched health intervention under the sun. There is very little that it hasn’t been shown to improve. I sometimes think it’s obvious, but it’s amazing how many people do not get enough exercise. This probably means you! That means movement, like walking, but it also means actually exercising and getting your heart rate elevated and giving your heart a good workout! THink about it - your heart is having to work harder to pump blood through your arteries. That’s high blood pressure. So what happens if you strengthen the heart? Lower the heart rate? Increase its efficiency? Exercise is a no-brainer for high blood pressure!

Get Adjusted! There are now dozens of studies looking at chiropractic adjustments and the responses of the nervous system, the stress response, and particularly the cardiovascular system - including many on Heart Rate Variability and Blood Pressure.6 One study has shown a total drop in BP of 27mmHg after undergoing chiropractic care to the upper cervical area!7 Many of these studies are looking specifically at adjustments of the upper cervical area, specifically the occiput or skull and C1, or the atlas bone. The proposed mechanism for the drop in blood pressure is that adjusting the atlas and brainstem area cause a parasympathetic response, which lowers blood pressure, as opposed to a sympathetic response, or fight-or-flight response. Most people today are stuck in a sympathetic dominance from far too much stress (mental, physical, chemical), and the parasympathetic response elicited by an atlas adjustment can help much more than their blood pressure, as the parasympathetic nervous system also controls things like digestion, healing, and hormone balance. So get adjusted!

Disclaimer: These statements are of a general nature and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using any product.